Olympia, state officials outline who’s responsible for turning Capitol Lake into an estuary
Over the last year, state and local leaders have voiced their support for turning Capitol Lake back into an estuary. The decision has been met with mixed reviews from the public, some raising concerns about recreation, smell and aesthetics.
The State Department of Enterprise Services released its draft Environmental Impact Statement for long-term management of the lake in June 2021, and in March of this year announced the estuary as the likely preferred alternative to the lake.
Since then, work groups composed of city, state and tribal leaders have been assigned to figure out exactly how the project will work, and who will be responsible for making it happen. At the helm is the Funding and Governance Work Group (FGWG), made up of leaders from Olympia, Tumwater, LOTT and more.
Officials from DES and their consultants gave an update to the Olympia City Council on Aug. 30 on the governance framework and funding strategies considered by the FGWG.
A lot of work will go into turning Capitol Lake back into an estuary and restoring the Deschutes River’s flow into Budd Inlet. Sediment that’s pooled in the lake for years and contaminated sediment in the bay will have to be dredged before the Fifth Avenue dam is removed. Then a new reconfigured bridge will be built at Fifth Avenue and Deschutes Parkway.
Tessa Gardner-Brown, an environmental planning consultant, said earlier drafts of the EIS said construction of the new bridge would close the intersection for four years. Instead, the new bridge will be constructed before the old one is closed to avoid that closure.
Once construction is completed, maintenance dredging of sediment will have to take place to keep navigation channels and recreation opportunities open. The DES found there are several areas that will need routine dredging of sediment, including the west side of the Port of Olympia, the Olympia Yacht Club and other private marinas, and Percival Landing, and some entities will have to pay for all of this to happen.
Taking responsibility
Sarah Reich, senior project manager for ECONorthwest, divvied up funding this way:
▪ The State will be in charge of costs and construction of the new 5th Avenue bridge before it’s turned over to Olympia for long-term maintenance.
▪ The Port of Olympia will be in charge of management, funding, surveys and more related to dredging in port vessel berths.
▪ Tumwater will be in charge of funding for south basin boardwalks.
▪ The Squaxin Island Tribe will have a hand in implementing a habitat enhancement project that includes planting native species.
▪ The State of Washington will be in charge of security and oversight of boating, fishing and recreation in the area, once construction is complete. They’re also responsible for staffing a decontamination station to deal with New Zealand mud snail populations.
▪ State money will also fund more boardwalks for the middle basin of West Bay, as well as design, permitting and contract management for dredging at marinas and public access areas.
▪ A group representing Thurston County will be in charge of managing funds related to the estuary project once money starts coming in.
Sediment dredging
As the Deschutes River continues to push sediment into Budd Inlet, dredging will be need to keep the waters usable. Routine dredging will happen at a six-year intervals under the DES’s plan, with most of it being done at the Olympia Yacht Club.
Under current conditions, the Yacht Club gets about 1.7 inches of sediment per year. Once the dam is removed, restoring the lake to an estuary, it is expected to get 6.18 inches a year, more than any other area in the bay.
Gardner-Brown said the total cost for construction and long-term maintenance through 2050 will be about $37.7 million in 2022 dollars. The FGWG, which includes the cities of Olympia and Tumwater and Thurston County, will be in charge of 65% or $17.9 million of the costs. Broken down, she said Olympia would fund about $4 million. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would be in charge of 35%, or $9.7 million.
A contract with private marinas and the Olympia Yacht Club is still being worked out, but they’re expected to pay several million dollars as well for dredging over the next 25 years.
“A lot of dredging is happening to continue recreation,” Gardner-Brown said. “It really contributes to the broader restoration effort below Tumwater Falls. It also helps restore water quality, ecological functions, community use and more.”
Carrie Martin with the DES outlined some benefits specific to Olympia, if the estuary becomes a reality. She said finalizing the conversation will reduce uncertainty about downtown Olympia’s appearance. She said it will allow the city to continue investing in downtown, which could then lead to more tourism and tax revenue.
She said the improved health of the water and increased trail systems in downtown could improve the well-being of Olympians and the overall diversity of the space. She said the new bridge and traffic configuration would clean up traffic through downtown, too.
Healthy sediment that’s dredged from Capitol Lake will be used to build shoreline habitats for native plant species and aquatic life. It also contributes to aesthetics, and native marsh plants help keep the area clean and healthy.
Many residents have voiced concern over the potential smell of the estuary mud flats. But according to the Squaxin Island Tribe’s informational webpage, “the historic smell of the former estuary was caused by untreated sewage that was dumped directly into the Deschutes estuary.”
“Raw sewage, not the periodic exposure of mudflats by the tides, caused an intense aroma that some still associate with the original estuary,” the webpage reads. “Wastewater is now treated in Olympia before it is dumped into Budd Inlet.”
What’s to come
Over the past month or so, stakeholders in the estuary have been conducting legal reviews of a more informal agreement between the cities and state to move forward on the project. Once they’re done and the FGWG finalizes its governance and funding plans, it will be added to the final draft of the EIS.
Later this year, the DES will submit requests for design and permitting, and an Interlocal Agreement between stakeholders will be drafted next year.
The first stage of sediment dredging will take place in the mid 2020s at the Port of Olympia. DES representatives said the port is working with the Department of Ecology to define the boundaries where there’s contaminated sediment that has to be cleaned up before anything else can be done.
The earliest the dam removal process could start is 2033. Once it’s gone, sediment levels in lower Budd Inlet will return to levels seen between when the port was established in 1922 and when the dam was built in 1951. Then the dredging schedule begins and will continue through at least 2050.
This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
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